MILITARY POLICY
(U.S. Department of Defense)
June 24, 2012
"Vital Interdependence"
Op-Ed, Russia in Global Affairs
By Kevin Ryan, Director, Defense and Intelligence Project, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
In a recent op-ed published in Russia in Global Affairs the Belfer Center's Kevin Ryan and Simon Saradzhyan argue that at a time when deep U.S. defense budget cuts are underway, supporters of continued U.S. missile defense development should consider the potential for cutting costs that cooperation with Russia could offer.
AP Photo
June 7, 2012
"The Pentagon is Stopped from Going Green"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"Fuel convoys are particularly subject to attack by hostile forces, and half of the Marines killed in Afghanistan and Iraq were supporting fuel transportation. Oil and water are the two commodities we import the most to the battlefield; the long line of a supply chain is a welcome mat for every IED and enemy. The biggest cost driver in the Pentagon's shrinking budget is oil; fuel increases in 2011 and 2012 cost the government an extra $3 billion."
June 6, 2012
"Obama's 'Secret Wars' Against America's Threats"
News
By David E. Sanger, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
David Sanger, senior fellow at the Belfer Center and adjunct lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, was interviewed on NPR’s “On Point” about his new book on President Obama’s foreign policy efforts, including a cybercampaign against Iran’s nuclear program. Sanger’s book, Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power, was published this week.
June 2012
"The Need for the Next Special Operations Forces' Mobility Aircraft"
Paper
By Joseph K. Michalek, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2011–2012
The proliferation of threat systems and Anti-Access, Area Denial (A2/AD) strategies make performing special operations forces' (SOF) air mobility missions increasingly complicated and limit the capability to defeat air defenses and penetrate into denied airspace. Combined with an aging inventory, ill suited to evading these threats, Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) must look to technology to defeat the more modern threat systems and anti-access strategies. The best answer to penetrate future, denied regions is in stealth or low observable (LO) technology.
May 31, 2012
"Iran's Growing Stockpile"
Op-Ed, Foreign Policy
By Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
“The latest chess match between Iran and six major powers in Baghdad ended last week without any declared breakthrough. This is not entirely surprising. Talks were unlikely to make significant headway with Iran offering to sacrifice a pawn -- 20 percent enriched uranium -- in exchange for the queen -- the lifting of oil sanctions,” Olli Heinonen, former deputy director-general of the IAEA and senior fellow at the Belfer Center, writes in a Foreign Policy op-ed. “In the meantime, the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) report on Iran, released May 25, reveals new information, most notably the presence of uranium particles enriched to 27 percent, well above the declared 20 percent enrichment level at the Fordow underground enrichment plant. Right now, the key question that the IAEA is trying to answer is how much uranium was enriched to 27 percent and over what period of time the enrichment took place.”
March 2012
"On the Use of Offensive Cyber Capabilities: A Policy Analysis on Offensive US Cyber Policy"
Paper
By Robert Belk and Matthew Noyes
This paper offers analysis and policy recommendations for use and response to various forms of cyber action for Offensive Military Cyber Policy. It establishes a pragmatic policy-relevant, effects-based ontology for categorizing cyber capabilities, and develops a comprehensive framework for cyber policy analysis. Furthermore, it demonstrates the utility of the cyber policy analysis framework by analyzing six key categories of external cyber actions identified by our ontology, which range the entire spectrum of cyber activity. Lastly, this work develops actionable policy recommendations from our analysis for cyber policy makers while identifying critical meta-questions.
AP Photo
May 17, 2012
"Urging Women to Be All That You Can't Be"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"For Democrats, advocating for women's equal rights in the military is less complicated than contending with the reproductive and health issues that have drawn most of the gender focus this election season. Since most Americans have no interaction with the military, which constitutes less than 1 percent of the population, the issue is largely theoretical and therefore much safer for politicians. Few Americans actually know a woman who wants to be in combat; by saying that such women should be allowed to follow their dreams, Obama isn't alienating anyone except those who still claim that women aren't up to the job."
(Rex Features via AP Images)
May 17, 2012
"NATO: When I'm Sixty-Four"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School and David Manning
Nicholas R. Burns and David Manning, former ambassadors to NATO from their respective countries, respond to the question of whether NATO is still needed. They write: “Will you still need me when I’m sixty-four?” sang the Beatles. NATO is now in its 64th year, and in our view the answer is an unequivocal yes. The alliance still underwrites our security and underpins our prosperity. It gives us a global voice that no member state would enjoy individually. And if “it’s good to talk” in a dangerous world, there is no better trans-Atlantic forum.
Summer 2012
Q&A: John S. Park
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By John S. Park, Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
John Park, a senior research associate at the U.S. Institute of Peace and currently a visiting fellow with the Belfer Center's International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom, recently sat down with for a one-on-one interview where he talked about his work with the Center and his contributions to the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit.
Summer 2012
James Baker Honored as 2012 Great Negotiator
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Stefanie Le
In late March, Harvard’s Program on Negotiation (PON) and the Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project (FDP) jointly honored former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III with the 2012 Great Negotiator Award. Created twelve years ago, the Award rewards those "“individuals whose lifetime achievements in the field of negotiation and dispute resolution have had a significant and lasting impact.”
